Game of the Week: Monument Looks to Grow Against Drury

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Monument Mountain head football coach Bill LaGrant is seeing progress in changing the culture and attitude of a program that has an 11-78 record over the past 11 years.

 

"We're seeing the growth and maturation," said LaGrant. "And it's showing on the field."

 

"When you stop and think we have three losses, but you take a look at the teams we have lost to and they are probably three of the best five teams in Berkshire County [regardless] of division. And we have been in every game we have lost. We were up at halftime against Pittsfield. We were down by six at halftime against Greylock and we were down by a touchdown to Hoosac. I've had coaches come to me after the game and said 'you guys are the toughest team we've played.'"

 

LaGrant and his team will aim to stay tough when they travel to face the struggling Blue Devils on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

 

"The big deal is that it takes time with a team like this," LaGrant added. "Whole new coaching staff. whole new offense. Whole new defense. Change the attitude. Change the culture. Change the atmosphere. Change expectations."

 

LaGrant said his biggest goal is to make the team believe they can win. 

 

"I tell the kids that, 'As long as you put out 100 percent, you're there every single down from snap to whistle you play the ball. As long as you're doing that and giving me your best then the loss is the best we can achieve on that particular day. But as we grow and mature from week to week, all of the sudden that loss isn't going to be there.'"

 

And this season, the Spartans have shown that those losses can turn into wins as they come into this week's matchup with two wins under their belt including a huge 44-0 victory on senior day over Taconic. 

 

"It was a big deal for our seniors because nobody expects us to win down here," LaGrant said. "I mean even the townspeople don't."

 

LaGrant said the key to continue their success this weekend against Drury will be winning battles at the line to slow down their offense.

 

"They're huge. They average about 245 across the line and we've got our work cut out for us. I have one 200-pounder on our offense and defense line so we are going to have to use technique and schemes in order to block them. But we've got our game plan all set."

 

The Drury Blue Devils come into their senior day game off two tough losses to Mount Greylock and Lee. The Blue Devil offense has struggled, failing to score any points in the two games. 

 

"We aren't even moving the ball and that's the thing," said head coach Bill Bryce. "We're just so inconsistent. We'll have first down and get eight yards and then we miss a block and lose six yards. Then we are at third and eight and we aren't good at third and long. So we need to become more consistent and our line is the key to that. If they don't do what they need to do, we don't have big powerful backs that can run through people. They need to get a hole and then once they get one they can break loose but if there aren't holes for them we are going backwards."

 

Bryce stressed the importance of fixing the little things and being more consistent in order to beat the visiting Spartans. 

 

"We need to be consistent and hold our blocks for longer than a half a second. We need to hit the holes hard. The backs have to block for each other. The wide receivers have to block. We have a whole plethora of things that we need to fix. So in order for us to win, we need to do those things. They're just little things but we need to fix them," he said.

 

"Defensively, they're not flashy or anything like that. "But they are a power team. They're going to come right at you. They have a good combination of backs. Some that run really hard and are going to deliver the blow when you try to tackle them. But then they have a quick back who can hit outside and juke. So they have had success doing that. They have played tough against some good football teams and so we need to be tough against them defensively."